The film tells the story of the tragic fate of a young girl - the daughter of a clergyman, the Soviet partisan. The action takes place in Lviv on the eve of and during World War II.

Set in a new mining town in the Donets Coal Basin, it centres on a clash between the young miners, the political establishment, and a religious cult lead by a devious Pentecostal evangelist infiltrated into the community who tries to make the workers fall under his influence.